How we’re helping Germany prepare for its 4K future

Posted on: 27 Feb 2019

While most content captured in Germany this year will be in HD, there is growing demand for 4K acquisition, especially since RTL launched its RTL UHD channel in April 2018. Football of course is the main driver of this, but there are also other shows that are going down the 4K route, with producers looking to gain a better understanding of what benefits the format can bring.

One of the main challenges that the German market faced however with making the transition was the lack of available 4K rental equipment. Cost was also a big factor in holding back progress. With rights owners and holders facing mounting pressure to keep costs down, yet deliver more in terms of picture formats and imaging techniques, help was needed to get things moving.

This is why we at Gearhouse Broadcast in Germany took the decision to invest heavily in new 4K cameras and lenses. Not only did we want to boost the amount of equipment that the market could access, we also wanted to help our customers, by offering it at a good price. The first batch of Grass Valley LDX 86N cameras that we purchased in July last year proved so popular that we were quickly able to expand our inventory further with a second follow-up investment that September.

Grass Valley’s UHD and IP-ready LDX 86N cameras are particularly popular in the region, and we can offer both 3G and 10G units. Uniquely, because a lot of our customers still use Triax in their workflows, we’re the only rental house in Germany that can provide 3G cameras that can work with Triax or SMPTE.

As part of a recent Gravity Media Group-wide investment, we also added multiple Sony HDC-4300 cameras and a range of Canon and Fujinon 4K/UHD studio/field and ENG lenses to our German rental stock.

So, our message is very clear; we’re 4K ready, we’re flexible, we have a large inventory of the latest kit, and we can price it very attractively. We’re also the local gateway to Gravity Media Group’s range of complex live broadcast facilities and production services that it offers globally through businesses Gearhouse Broadcast, Hyperactive Broadcast and Input Media.

Share this:

By closing this message, you consent to our cookies on this device in accordance with our Cookie Policy, unless you have disabled them.